Got Living Water?

The world out there is full of questions and one in particular seems to come out very often, most especially when we take a look at the great tragedies of our times: “Is the Lord in our midst or not?” (Ex 17:7, first reading). Today we enter into this question and have an opportunity to find the answer.
Jesus tells us that God is still in our midst but not in the way we may think or expect Him to be. He is in our midst in a very ordinary way and we find Him when we respond to the needs that people have. We find Him when we love; when we discover ourselves as “beloved of God” and when we love “the other” with the Love He has poured into our hearts. Then we understand how God is present in the world today.

In that “Give me a drink” that Jesus says to the Samaritan woman we find more, however, than a simple request to be charitable. This request opens us to the revelation of God and of ourselves; this request allows us to dialogue with God and this dialogue moves two hearts closer and closer together until they become one.

We know that our lives demand something more, something that like the thirst of midday in a desert, haunts us until we find anything that can bring relief. The tragedy of life is that most of the time we settle for water from the well... if we are lucky. Some even settled for the water of a cactus. The gift that God brings to us is more enriching and totally satisfying - living water. No wonder the woman wants to know where it is. She knows that that’s what we long for!
This living water is not like well water. It moves and moves things. A well can be covered: you put sand on it and it’s covered. No one can cover a stream: there will always be water. 
The Living water comes from within, but like a stream with an underground source, it may carry with it the dirt of the earth. We can not drink it until all the impurities have been removed. So it is with us. The Living water has been given to us, but we carry a lot of junk (impurities) which muddy the water. What to do?

“Call you husband....” Why switch the conversation on to the husbands? The Samaritan woman has five husbands and the one she has now is not her own. As I meditate on this word, I am reminded that the Hebrew word for husband is the word for “master” (Ba’al) which is also used for idols. Earthly idols made of earth, of dirt, of clay.

Now I know what to do. There are too many attachments in our lives, attachment that can function like idols, something that we give all our attention and devotion. For as long as we keep those clay idols the living water will always be muddy. By getting rid of them, they will not contaminate the water any longer and I can drink of that water and be truly and forever satisfied.

Only in this way, we can be part of the thirst-quenching network that Jesus invites us to be. If we hold our idols in our hands and tell people that God can satisfy our hearts, how truthful are we? Can they really believe us? I don’t think so.

If we say that God is living in our midst but we don’t let go of the idols of self interest and pride, how credible are we?

But when we allow the Love that God has poured into us to purify our hearts and transform our lives we can be made into credible aqueducts, capable of bring the LIving water to all those who long for it.
We can be the answer to the world’s question: God is in our midst because He lives among us when we love each other with His love.

Living the Transfiguration Story

Sunday, March 20, 2010

I believe that we must live the whole Gospel, and each page invites us to enter deeper and deeper in to the life of God so that we can live our lives with Him and viceversa. How can I live the story of the Transfiguration?

Peter, James and John get a glimpse of the glorious Christ; it must have been a wonderful and awesome experience. Although I understand why the disciples were terrified, I can also understand why Peter told Jesus that he wanted to build three tents. We have this human need to put everything into boxes so that we can control, catalog, shelf and use when needed whatever it is that we are experiencing.

There is always the temptation of putting “Moses” into a box or a tent. Moses represents the Law, the regulatory aspect of our Christian life. In him we find all the rules and regulations that are given to us as an aid. Putting him in a tent can give me the feeling of being in charge or domesticate the rules, making everything serve me rather than God. Also, I can become a victim of rubrical fundamentalism or a total dismissal of liturgical norms.

Elijah is the “prophetic” dimension. The Church cannot live without it. This is the aspect of our christian life that constantly pushes us forward and finds new ways of expressing our love for God. But it can be messy and unruly; it’s easier to put it in a box and control it so that everything happens under my control. In doing so, I can risk to stifle the Spirit and become unable to “sing the new song”.

God, however, is always ready to interrupt our lives and to surround us with His presence. It is only when we let go of our tendency of putting everything - even God - into a box that we can experience God’s love around us and it is only then that we can hear Him speak. Just as Moses and Elijah were engaged in the wordless dialogue with Christ, so God invites us to listen to Him. Only Christ and HIs word can bring us to understand Moses and Elijah, only when we live the Gospel that these other two dimensions of our lives make sense. Jesus is the center, the one who brings harmony between the two.

What is Jesus telling us? “Rise!” Yes! He can help us get up and continue our Journey with HIm to Jerusalem, to the Cross. Our journey requires that we keep our eyes only on Jesus and He alone. But we know that things are going to be better.